Content vs. Journalism: The Differences and Opportunities

It seems like we hear the word “content” all the time—more so in the past five years or so. Perhaps this is because, with the rise of the internet and devices, anyone can create content and share it. And a lot of people do.

While we might first think of content as text, the definition is actually much broader than that. Content is basically any substantial material on a website, such as text, images, music or video. Many sites produce all of these media types, and so need a crew of content creators and managers to ensure quality presentation.

The thing is, some people take issue with the way we use the word “content,” and how its connotations impact traditional journalism.

Does “Content” Degrade Journalism?

People are talking about a problem that the proliferation of content creates in the realm of journalism. Jon Christian of Slate bemoans the demand for “content” from publications such as Politico and Fortune, both of which mentioned the word in job postings for reporters and editors.

The problem seems not so much about the existence or definition of content—indeed, journalism is a type of content—but the lumping in of journalism with its numerous other categories.

Christian discusses the content spectrum, which ranges from hard journalism and quality satire all the way down to ridiculous quizzes about which cartoon character one identifies with. His opinion is that referring to journalism as content waters it down, and reduces it from an entity of sources and facts to one of interchangeable units and page views.

He goes on to suggest that the journalism-as-content approach leads to sloppy research, and thinly sourced pieces that lack context and originality. Pressured by management, journalists scramble to cover the trending stories, thinking about traffic more than serious investigation.

Ultimately, Christian says, established journalism is taking the hit, with veterans being laid off at rapid rates and coverage scaling back as a result.

Not only is the idea of journalism changing while we see a rise in mid- to low-quality content—many pillars of true journalism are forced to play along, and pander to the masses of listicle clickers and meme sharers.

A Darker Side of True Journalism

This distinction between content and journalism matters, because journalism often comes with serious side effects. Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the reporters at the heart of the Snowden leaks, have faced one confrontation after another in transiting across borders from their work. Such treatment doesn’t exist for Hollywood movie producers, BuzzFeed cat picture caption writers, or bloggers writing about how journalism is not content production. We shouldn’t necessarily consider journalism a more honorable profession given this fierce opposition, but neither should we equate it with simply placing words or pictures online.

While most content creators can sit safely at desks, and approach their work from a marketing standpoint more than an investigative one, true journalists aren’t afraid to spark controversy. Crichton talks about how journalists need the freedom to investigate and get to the truth of matters, even if that means taking a hard look at a news organization’s own advertisers or sponsors.

Google Favors Quality and Relevance

If Google has anything to say about it (and it does, of course), quality content and serious journalism are probably going to win out in the end anyway. The Google Algorithms get frequent updates, including some aimed at surfacing the highest quality and most relevant content in the search results.

An item of note in the newest version of the quality rater manual is the Overall Page Quality Rating Scale. This is a five-point scale for overall page quality including lowest, low, medium, high and highest.

Here’s a breakdown of what it takes to get top ratings, mid-level ratings and low ratings:

Highest Quality Pages: the highest level of expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in the main content and the publishers/individual authors behind them, as well as a very high customer service reputation.

High Quality Pages: a high level of E-A-T in the main content, as well as satisfying information on the website, who’s behind it and how it serves customers.

Medium Quality Pages: achieve their purpose with a relatively neutral level of E-A-T, often exhibiting both high and low quality characteristics.

Low Quality Pages: unsatisfying and do not achieve their purpose, and show no true level of E-A-T in the main content.

Lowest Quality Pages: created to harm, mislead or misinform users or make money without meaning to be of any service, as well as pages that promote hate or violence toward certain groups of people.

Promoting quality and relevance is also supported by things like the Panda algorithm, which was a change to Google’s search results ranking algorithm that was implemented in 2011. The point of Panda is to lower the ranking of low-quality sites, returning solid news other content to the top spots.

Create Better Content, Support Serious Journalism

Serious content writers appreciate quality, not to mention the blood, sweat and tears that go into creating it.

One of the best ways to support excellent content across the board is to make it better yourself. If you have the opportunity to share something on the internet, take the time to make it worth the time of those consuming it.

The Content Marketing Institute has a few tips on how to do that, and they come from—you guessed it—traditional journalism.

Included are:

Write attention-grabbing, informative, genuine headlines.

Know your audience and what they’re looking for.

Check your facts and go directly to original sources when possible.

Avoid distractions, such as flashy ads, poorly placed forms and too many images or links.

Be honest and transparent about potential bias.

Look for the bigger picture about industries and issues.

Our content creators at bizbuzzcontent Inc. take certain, specific steps to ensure the quality of the pieces we write:

We work with a lot of reports, and while plenty of sites refer to them in reliable ways, we always try to find the original report itself to verify data during our research.

We don’t simply rephrase other writers’ words (to avoid plagiarism), but pull out the details we need and cite the source. Creating a truly fresh article requires using multiple sources to support an original idea.

In general, we strive to answer the “5Ws” and the “H” (who, what, why, when, where and how) to cover all the details and questions readers might have.

When we encounter buzzwords or jargon, we explain them to keep the writing basic and accessible to all readers.

We implement multiple levels of editing, where multiple people read a piece of content (sometimes multiple times!) before it goes to the client.

As content creators, we have an opportunity to take responsibility for web content for the businesses and brands we write for. Unlike journalism, online content has no real guidelines or “policing” (except from Google, of course).

Content creators can be part of the white noise, or we can create something that deserves to be singled out. Whether you’re making videos about cute kittens or writing about conflicts in the Middle East, you have the chance to vote for quality.

Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell is a content writer for bizbuzzcontent. When she’s not writing, you can find her cooking, traveling, doing yoga, and relaxing with friends and family.

Testimonials

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

2018-07-31T17:22:53+00:00

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

2018-07-31T17:22:20+00:00

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.

Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

2018-07-31T17:22:31+00:00

Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.

Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

2018-07-31T17:22:41+00:00

Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

2018-07-31T17:23:04+00:00

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.

Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

2018-07-31T17:23:14+00:00

Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.

Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

2018-07-31T17:21:44+00:00

Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.

Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

2018-07-31T17:21:33+00:00

Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!

Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

2018-07-31T17:21:10+00:00

Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.

Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

2018-07-31T17:18:31+00:00

Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.